Details

Opera has not only given the world some of its favourite vocal music, but also some of its greatest orchestral works as well. Canadian soprano Kathleen Brett showcases operatic delights from The Mikado, The Marriage of Figaro and more. You'll also hear orchestral works like the William Tell Overture, The Ride of the Valkyries, and a suite from Carmen.

Adult Reserved $27 / Grass $18
Child Reserved $13 / Grass free

Family BBQ after Matinee

Spend the entire day at Hawrelak Park with your family enjoying concerts and a BBQ hosted by ESO musicians! Our musicians will cook up burgers from Sobeys on party-sized barbecues provided by Big Top Rentals. Burgers cost $3 each and pop costs $1 each. All proceeds go to support Kids Kottage, a charity that assists families in crisis situations.

Thank you to our festival title sponsor:

Thank you to our media sponsor:

Program Information

VERDI
La forza del destino: Overture (8')*

BIZET
Carmen: Suite No. 1, excerpts (6’)*
1-Prelude and Aragonaise
3-Séguedille
5-Les Toréadors

MOZART
Le nozze di Figaro, K492: "Guinse alfin ... Deh, vieni non tardar" (3’)*
Kathleen Brett, soprano

MOZART
Cosi fan tutte, K.588: “In uomini, in soldati separe fedelta” (3’)*
Kathleen Brett, soprano

ROSSIN
William Tell: Overture (12’)*

INTERMISSION

ESTACIO
Bootlegger’s Tarantella (7’)*

SAINT-SAËNS
Samson et Dalila: Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix (5’)*

SULLIVAN
The Mikado: “The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze” (3’)*
Kathleen Brett, soprano

MASCAGNI
Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo sinfonico (4’)*

WAGNER
Die Walküre: The Ride of the Valkyries (5’)*

*indicates approximate duration

Program Notes

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) revised his opera La forza del destino (“The Force of Destiny”) several times following its premiere in St. Petersburg in 1862, and while doing so, he created a new overture for it. In fact, in its original guise, the curtain-raiser to this complex and, in all honesty, contrived and melodramatic story of love and betrayal, was called a “prelude.” The overture we have now is an altogether more broadly conceived work, one which has taken its place in the concert hall.

The overture is a pastiche of themes to be heard later in the opera, linked by a harsh and foreboding orchestral motive, suggesting the dark hand fate will play in the story. The other dominant musical element here is the beautiful theme of the character of Leonora, from her duet with the Father Superior. Having changed the ending of the opera in the revised version, Verdi used this musical hint of that new ending in the overture, to foreshadow the poignancy the new ending gives the work.

Georges Bizet (1838-1875) died at only 37 years of age, and only months before seeing his greatest achievement, the opera Carmen, become a worldwide sensation. Its initial reception was not promising – the story of the rebellious gypsy woman who chooses death rather than surrender her free spirit - was daring for the time. Yet the opera’s melodies, characters and brilliant orchestration have proved irresistible, and it is one of the most often performed operas in history.

The brief and dramatic Prelude and Aragonaise (a dance from the Aragon region of Spain) leads to a chorus heard in Act III of the opera. As the drama nears its tragic end, the crowd cheers and sings of the bravery of those who are about to participate in the bullfight as they enter the arena. The dance known as the Séguedille is thought to have Moorish roots, and has been popular in Spain since the 16th century. The famous march tune Les Toréadors is the very first bit of music heard in the opera, used as the curtain-raiser to this passionate tale.

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756-1791) had the good fortune to compose three operas with the gifted librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Two of them were comedies of manners. Le nozze di Figaro (“The Marriage of Figaro”) was based on the scandalous Beaumarchais play that poked fun at the noble class, always gotten the best of by their servants. Così fan tutte (“Thus Do They All”) is a gender-bending farce about love, fidelity and getting one’s just rewards.

“Guinse alfin…Deh, vieni non tardar” is a recitative and aria from the final act of Le nozze di Figaro. It is sung by Figaro’s betrothed, Susanna. In it, she sings of the joy she anticipates with her love. The humour here is that Figaro overhears her song, but thinks she is singing of another, not him. “In uomini, in soldati separe fedelta” is from Act I of Così fan tutte. Two young soldiers have agreed to test the fidelity of their sweethearts, who pine when they believe their soldiers have been sent abroad. The maid, Despina, chides the women with this cynical song, which states that neither men nor soldiers will be faithful to them, and urges the young ladies to seek lovers of their own.

Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) was a rich and celebrated composer in the Italian bel canto tradition – secure enough in his standing that he could afford to “experiment” with his last operatic composition. For it, he turned from bel canto to the French grand opera tradition, which is why the opera we know in English as William Tell was written originally under its French name, Guillaume Tell. As this, it premiered to great acclaim in Paris in 1829. The opera itself is a large, long affair, based on the German poet Schiller’s account of the legendary Swiss hero of the 14th century, who rallies his countrymen against the Austrian occupiers. And while the opera has long since fallen from the standard repertoire, its overture has done anything but. Our associations with the William Tell Overture now have very little to do with the opera, but each of its four sections is rich, memorable and make for a thrilling work taken all together.

The overture opens with the cellos intoning a sad, heartfelt song. This yields gradually to a storm section of great intensity and violence. A gentle theme follows, one that has since been used as “sunrise” music for cartoons everywhere – a duet for English horn and flute. The gallop which concludes the overture begins with a thrilling call to arms on a trumpet, answered by the other brass. The gallop, forever linked now to The Lone Ranger, is one of the most famous melodies in all of music.

Bootlegger’s Tarantella is a precursor to John Estacio’s (b. 1966) opera Filumena, which had its world premiere in Calgary in February, 2003 – to great critical and popular success. It was presented by Edmonton Opera in 2005. The opera is based on the true story of Filumena Losandro, a young Italian woman who immigrated to Canada in the early 1900s and settled in the Crowsnest Pass. Caught up in the criminal bootlegging life of the family she married into, Filumena became the last woman executed in Canada.

Mr. Estacio has said this about Bootlegger’s Tarantella: “I wrote this short overture before I started writing the opera, and a few of the themes from this overture in fact ended up in the opera. The first of three themes in this piece is a folk-like melody, which segues into a dance tune that one might hear at a traditional Italian wedding party; and perhaps the wedding band has had one too many of the bootlegger’s brew. The third theme suggests the passionate elements of the story; betrayal, unrequited love, and the despair at the tragic turn of events. Gradually, the music returns to the theme that started off the piece.”

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) wrote 13 operas over the course of his long life, but only one achieved great success. Samson et Dalila premiered to great acclaim in 1877, and continues to hold the stage. A cogent and intelligent spin on the story found in the Bible’s Book of Judges, it features three important arias for Dalila, each revealing a new aspect of her character. “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix” (“My heart opens to your voice”) is the second of them, sung to Samson after she has entranced him into her home, in an effort to convince him of her love. The orchestral version heard today, featuring a lovely duet between solo violin (Broddy Olson) and solo cello (Colin Ryan), is by Carmen Dragon and was written for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

Of the many, many successful and satiric operettas over their storied careers, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado stands alone. Its first run beginning in 1885 was an unbelievable 672 performances, and its first revival in 1896 made it the first work to achieve 1000 performances at London’s Savoy Theatre. William S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) used the exotic setting of Japan for the operetta to poke fun at the absurdities of the abuses inherent in the British class system. The character of Nanki-Poo arrives in the town of Titipu with the hope of winning the hand of Yum-Yum. He does, after a fashion, gaining the right to marry her, on condition that he lose his head in a month’s time. Yum-Yum sings the song “The sun, whose rays are all ablaze” on the day of her wedding, an innocent and naïve observation of her own beauty.

Many, many classical composers struggled throughout their lives for their art, but have been rewarded in posterity by having their music live on long after. Jules Massenet (1842-1912) is rather the opposite. While only a handful of his works, or excerpts from them, are familiar these days, what he has not achieved in posterity he more than made up for by being fabulously successful during his life. Massenet was the master of the grand opera, during a time when Paris was mad for it. His operatic setting of the Abbé Prévost melodramatic novel Manon Lescaut was the middle of three such operas (Auber’s now-forgotten version premiered in 1856; Puccini’s would come in 1893), and is judged to be the best. Manon premiered in 1884, and “Je marche sur tous les chemins ... Obéissons quand leur voix appelle” (“Obey when their voices are calling”), the aria performed this afternoon, is in the style of a French dance known as a Gavotte. It is from Act III of the opera, in which Manon sings of the promise of a charmed life her beauty and beguiling nature can win for her. Renée Fleming performed this aria at her Gala performance with the ESO last September.

The famous Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni’s (1863-1945) only “hit” opera, Cavalleria rusticana (“Rustic Chivalry”), is another of music’s most famous excerpts. The opera itself is short (often paired with another popular one-act opera, I Pagliacci by Ruggiero Leoncavallo), and is a dark tale of infidelity and revenge among a village of Sicilian peasants. The exquisite Intermezzo is a stark and poignant moment of contrast in its operatic context – the inevitable tragedy that is to come is delayed by this serene music, played to an empty stage while the story’s characters attend Easter mass.

The mammoth Ring Cycle of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is a cycle of four “music dramas” (the word “opera” was insufficient to embrace the all-encompassing art pieces Wagner wrote) the composer intended to be performed on successive nights. The second of the pieces is Die Walküre (“The Valkyries), entitled for the mythical women who were charged with collecting warriors who had fallen in battle, and bringing them to the Hero’s hall in the afterlife, Valhalla. The Ride of the Valkyries is one of the most famous excerpts in music, and while it has a vocal part in the opera itself, many orchestra-only versions for the concert hall have been made of it. This afternoon’s concert features an arrangement by Jonathan Sheffer which puts the vocal parts among the instruments of the orchestra, and gives it a proper concert ending.

Program Notes © 2009 D.T. Baker

Artist Information

Robert Bernhardt, conductor

 

Robert Bernhardt is the second Music Director in the history of the combined Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, and is currently in his 16th season with the company. Concurrent with his CSO tenure, Bernhardt holds the additional title of Principal Pops Conductor of the Louisville Orchestra where he is currently in his 28th season. He began his professional career there in 1981 as Assistant Conductor, and has worked with the Orchestra every year since. He was the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic (1995-98), Music Director and Conductor of the Tucson Symphony (1987-95), Principal Guest Conductor of Kentucky Opera (1991-96), and Music Director of the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra (1985-1987). His vast symphonic repertoire covers most of the standard canon and his commitment to the music of our time is significant.

 

This season, Robert Bernhardt will make his guest conducting debut with the Houston Symphony, and returns to the podiums of the Pacific Symphony, Tucson Symphony, and the Chattanooga Ballet. He has guest conducted the Detroit, St. Louis, Seattle, Phoenix, Nashville, Colorado, Pacific and Iceland Symphony Orchestras among others, and has been a frequent guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Tucson Symphony, and the Boston Pops. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1978. In addition to his work with the CSO, he has conducted the Opera Companies of Nashville and Birmingham. He has also conducted the Louisville Ballet, the North Carolina Ballet, the Jacksonville Ballet and the Lonestar Ballet. Born in Rochester, NY, Robert Bernhardt holds a Master's Degree with Honors from the University of Southern California School of Music where he studied with Daniel Lewis. He was a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Union (NY) College, where he was an Academic All-American Baseball Player.

Since making his ESO debut in May 2006, Robert Bernhardt has become a favourite guest conductor of both the orchestra and its audience. The 2009 Sobeys Symphony Under the Sky is the fourth consecutive edition of the festival led by Mr. Bernhardt. He will conduct several more performances in the 09/10 season, including Oktoberfest! on October 6, 2009, Our Favourite Mozart on October 8, 2009, and Classics of the Silver Screen on May 20, 2010.

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Lucas Waldin, ESO Conductor in Residence

 

The 2009/10 season marks the first for Lucas Waldin as Resident Conductor for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. This mentorship position is made possible through the Canada Council for the Arts. Mr. Waldin graduated in 2006 from the Cleveland Institute of Music with a Masters in Conducting. He has performed with L'Orchestre du Festival Beaulieu-Sur-Mer (Monaco), Staatstheater Cottbus (Brandenburg), and Bachakademie Stuttgart. Lucas was assistant conductor of the contemporary orchestra RED (Cleveland), director of the Cleveland Bach Consort, and a Discovery Series Conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival. In 2007, he was invited to conduct the Miami-based New World Symphony Orchestra in masterclasses given by Michael Tilson Thomas. In Lucerne in 2009, he also participated in a masterclass led by Bernard Haitink, with the Lucerne Festival Strings.

A native of Toronto, Lucas Waldin has spent summers studying in Europe, including studies at the International Music Academy in Leipzig, the Bayreuth Youth Orchestra, and the Acanthes New Music Festival in France. On this continent, he has studied under the renowned Bach conductor Helmut Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival, and has attended conducting masterclasses with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto. Mr. Waldin received a Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance from the Cleveland Institute, studying with Joshua Smith.

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Kathleen Brett, soprano 

Canadian soprano Kathleen Brett is cherished by audiences in America and Europe not only for the beauty of her tone and stylistic instinct but also for her natural stage presence and dramatic skills. Ms. Brett has enjoyed a long artistic collaboration with the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto, where she has portrayed a variety of roles including Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Romilda in the Stephen Wadsworth production of Handel’s Xerxes, and the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Among her many other appearances in Canada she has performed the roles of Nannetta in Falstaff and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with L’Opéra de Montréal, Amarilli in Handel’s Il Pastor Fido with Opera Atelier of Toronto and Leila in The Pearl Fishers at Opera Lyra Ottawa. Other notable roles are Adina in L’elisir d’Amore and the title role in Romeo and Juliette performed with Calgary Opera; Pamina with Edmonton Opera and Despina in Così fan tutte with Vancouver Opera.

In addition to her operatic work, Kathleen Brett is often performing in concert halls all over North America, excelling in a wide repertoire that ranges from works of the Renaissance to contemporary music. She has performed with many Canadian and American symphonies including Toronto, Montréal, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia. Noteworthy performances have been Vivaldi’s Gloria under Trevor Pinnock and the Fauré Requiem under Pinchas Zuckerman, both with the National Arts Centre; she sang in Handel’s Messiah with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Montréal Symphony; Haydn’s Mass in C Major at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago and in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Vancouver Symphony.

Highlights from upcoming engagements in the 2009-2010 season include concerts with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Hamilton Symphony and multiple appearances with Edmonton Opera. Ms. Brett will also perform the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni at The Calgary Opera. Kathleen Brett appears with Robert Bernhardt again in the ESO 09/10 season for Classics of the Silver Screen on May 20, 2010.

Multimedia

Festival conductor Bob Bernhardt talks about Sobeys Symphony Under the Sky: